2024 was a prominent year for the world’s largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC). The asset managed to cross the coveted $100,000 mark. While several other coins in the market followed suit and went on to claim new highs, Ethereum (ETH) stood on the sidelines. The altcoin failed to regain its record high of $4,891. Despite this, the optimism and interest in Ethereum did not seem to die as it continued to attract investors.
Ethereum surpasses Bitcoin
According to recent data from Santiment, the total number of wallets for the top cryptocurrencies has seen a sharp increase. This has reportedly been happening since the beginning of the new year. The company revealed that Ethereum and XRP holders increased by a remarkable margin. Since the beginning of 2025, the total number of ETH wallets has reached 645K. This is an increase of 0.5% since the beginning of the year.
XRP saw a 1% increase in holders since the beginning of 2025 and the number of wallets is at 58K. Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, currently has more than 100,000 wallets.
Further elaboration on the reason behind this rise, Santiment said,
“If wallets rise quickly, the community is comfortable with the project long-term. If wallets drop, there may be excess R&D indicating an opportunity to buy (as opposed to the panicked crowd).”
Current market scenario
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $94,940 with a nice price increase of 1.50% in the last 24 hours. The king coin hit a record high of $108,268.45 last month. The asset is currently 12% below this peak.
Meanwhile, Ethereum was priced at $3,311.14, at press time. The asset barely experienced a rise or fall over the past 24 hours. While the community expects ETH to reach $5,000 this year, it continues to trade 32% below its all-time high.
